John McCarthy
CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Omaily Sanchez Taveras, 36, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced on May 30, 2025 to ten months imprisonment for illegally smuggling aliens, Acting United States Attorney Adam F. Sleeper said.
The sentence follows a two-day jury trial in which a federal jury found Taveras guilty of smuggling ten illegal aliens from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico, Acting U.S. Attorney Sleeper said.
According to court records, on October 13, 2024, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations in St. Thomas received information that a vessel appeared to be loading illegal
aliens in Fortuna Bay, on the western end of St. Thomas.
Agents traveled to the area and eventually located and observed an anchored vessel, dead in the water, close to an island known as West Cay.
On board the vessel were eleven illegal aliens, including the vessel’s captain, Taveras.
Of the ten passengers, four were from the Dominican Republic, four were from Romania, and two were from Brazil.
They all paid Taveras to take them to Culebra.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert Molloy handed down the sentence to Sanchez Taveras.
This case was investigated by U.S Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP Miami.
It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Everard E. Potter and Denise George.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-vid-3_24-cr-00022/pdf/USCOURTS-vid-3_24-cr-00022-0.pdf
